Office-closings plan draws protest group

Many opposed to the plan fear it means a loss of personal service and long waits on the telephone.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Demonstrators outside the state jobs office here showed their displeasure with a plan to close it and others like it.
The Ohio Civil Service Employee Association organized Monday's demonstration. Many of the union's workers will be affected by the move, which was announced in February by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Office closings: Citing the need to save money, the department plans in the next 15 months to close 56 jobs offices around the state and replace them with 21 phone centers where the unemployed can call about benefits and other employment matters.
Besides the jobs office in Lisbon, the state also plans to close a similar facility in Warren.
Also to be closed is a claims center in Salem that is generally not open to the public. It handles complex claims referred to it from other jobs offices.
In Youngstown, the jobs office will be closed and replaced with a phone center.
The state says the office closings coupled with installation of phone centers will enable the department of job and family services to save money, while at the same time offering efficient, convenient service over the telephone.
But that strategy is being questioned by the OCSEA and some laid-off workers.
"I can't believe what they want to do," said Eric Sweet of Lisbon, who was laid off at the end of January. Sweet, who was among those picketing Monday, said he is pleased with the personal service he has received during visits to the job center in Lisbon.
Personal contact: He added that he's worried that the phone service will mean a loss of personal contact and long waits on hold.
"We want face-to-face service. Not telephone," read a hand-lettered sign held by picket John Ammon of Salem.
Ammon said he's not laid off. But he was demonstrating to protest the state's plan.
"We can't have this," he said.
Ed Connors, president of OCSEA Chapter 1500, which represents area jobs office workers, said Monday's demonstration wasn't organized because union members are worried about their jobs.
Area union employees affected by the jobs offices closings will be relocated to other posts, Connors said.
"I will have a job," he said. But clients who need personal, face-to-face help will lose that assistance, he said.
"These people need taken care of," Connors said. "We want to keep doing that."